Leeds United are looking to end a run of seven matches without a win in the Premier League as they play host to Fulham at Elland Road this afternoon.
Jesse Marsch’s side have lost all three of their last three outings in the top-flight, against Leicester, Arsenal, and Crystal Palace, and now face one of the newly-promoted sides at home.
The Whites are level, on nine points, with two of the three teams in the relegation zone and a victory today could send them further clear of trouble in the table.
They head into this match off the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Leicester, who are currently bottom of the Premier League and only have eight points on the board.
One player who the manager must ditch after that loss is centre-back Robin Koch as the defender had a shocker at the King Power last time out.
Patrick Bamford missed a penalty against Arsenal in the club’s last home game and has not scored in eight top-flight outings, but his German teammate has taken the spotlight off him with some frustrating displays of late.
The dud put in a dismal performance as he handed Leicester the lead by converting the ball into his own net from Dennis Praet’s ball across the box.
Koch left himself with too much ground to cover after not reacting quickly enough to the run behind him from Harvey Barnes and that forced him to reach for the ball with a sliding clearance and it was only ever going in one direction at that point – past Illan Meslier.
He was then beaten to the ball in the box by Jamie Vardy, who opened up the space for Barnes to be teed up to finish with ease, for the second goal.
Sofascore handed him a rating of 5.8 for his display but that is not the worst score he has had this term. The stats website ranked him at 5.6 for his showing against Brentford in the 5-2 defeat last month as he lost four of his five ground duels, was dribbled past once, and made one direct error leading to a shot.
These statistics suggest that the defender, who has lost 53% of his ground duels in the Premier League this season, has been a liability at the back for Leeds.
LeedsLive reporter Beren Cross dubbed the 26-year-old’s defending as “horrible to watch” after a match against Manchester United and that aptly describes his recent form.
The £46k-per-week dud must, therefore, be ditched by Marsch as he cannot trust that Koch will put in a solid performance as the club look to end their winless run.
Liam Cooper came off the bench against Leicester and recorded a rating of 7.5 by winning five of his six individual battles, whilst also making two blocks, two clearances, three interceptions, and two tackles in just 45 minutes.
Marsch must now ruthlessly bin Koch from the starting XI and bring the club captain back into the fold to face Marco Silva’s side this afternoon.
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